E 
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GIFT 
MAR  2&   1919 


THE  FIFTY-FIFTH  REGIMENT 


THE 


SACHUSETTS  VOLUNTEER  INFANTRY 

COLORD       ^'-    ::V^i/; 

JUNE  1863  — SEPTEMBER  1865 


By  BURT  G.  WILDER 


• 


OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 


THIRD  EDITION 


THE  RIVERDALE  PRESS 

BROOKLINE,  MASS. 

1919 


The  Fifty-fifth  Massachusetts  Volunteer  Infantry,  Colord 

JUNE,  1863  — SEPTEMBER,  1865-  .  .  ;; 

ADDRESS  BEFORE  THE  BROOKLINE  (MASS.)  HISTOM(^^l^/*^y^jV2]jU4 

5K  fl£7/?r  G.   WILDER,  B.S.,  M.D.,  LATE  SURGEON  OF  THE  REGIMENT 

Third  edition,  revized,  with  additions  and   in  Simplified  Spelling,  February,  19191 

To  ANDREW  CARNEGIE  —  whose  efficient  management  of  the  Military  Railroads 
and  Telegraf  Lines  greatly  facilitated  the  operations  of  the  Civil  War;  whose  regard 
for  the  African  race  has  been  abundantly  shown;  whose  promotion  of  Simplified 
Spelling  has  diminisht  labor  and  lengthend  life;  and  whose  munificent  "Endowment 
for  the  Advancement  of  Teaching"  has  enabld  the  riter  to  employ  upon  his  "Records 
and  Recollections"  the  time  that  otherwize  must  hav  been  devoted  to  self-support  — 
is  gratefully  dedicated  the  series  of  which  this  is  a  preliminary  part. 

The  speaker  praizes  the  valor  of  the  enlisted  men  and  their  conduct  under  distressing  and  unjust  conditions 
as  to  pay  and  as  to  military  recognition  by  the  enemy;  criticizes  the  general  management  of  the  Department 
of  the  South ;  concedes  the  prowess  and  heroism  of  the  Confederates,  and  thinks  they  would  hav  won  but  for 
our  blockade,  if  they  had  armd  their  loyal  Negroes,  and  if  they  had  equald  the  Federals  in  number;  believs 
the  Civil  War  might  hav  been  shortend  by  a  year  if  liquor  had  been  interdicted  in  our  army;  questions  the 
control  of  battls  by  the  Deity,  and  hopes  for  an  expurgated  Bible  treating  les  of  war. 

Among  topics  discust  in  the  footnotes  ar  Drinking  and  Smoking  by  Soldiers;  the  Military  Valu  of  the 
Negro;  the  late  German  Kaiser's  Assumptions  as  to  Divine  Purposes;  Oken's  Laudation  of  War;  and 
Sherman's  "War  is  Hell.'1 


1  Under  the  title,  "Professor  Wilder  talks  of  his  regiment,"  a  report  of  the  address  was  publisht  in  The 
Brookline  Chronicle  of  May  30, 1914.  With  some  omissions,  that  report  was  reproduced  in  The  Guardian  (Boston) 
for  June  6  under  the  title,  "Dr.  Wilder  on  55th  Mass."  Revized  by  me,  the  original  report  was  soon  printed  as  a 
leaflet  (the  first  edition)  for  limited  distribution.  With  omissions,  corrections,  and  additions  —  the  last  mostly 
as  footnotes  —  the  leaflet  was  reprinted  as  a  four-page  folio  dated  August  17,  1917;  an  Appendix  was  added 
to  page  4,  September  4,  and  on  October  30  was  inserted  a  slip  with  some  additions.  Of  the  second  edition  hav 
been  distributed,  gratis,  3,000  copies,  viz.,  to  members  of  the  regiment  whose  addresses  wer  known  to  me;  to 
some  members  of  the  Military  Historical  Society  of  Massachusetts  (the  others  wil  reciev  copies  of  this,  the 
third  edition);  to  members  of  Grand  Army  posts  of  Boston,  Brookline,  Newton,  and  Ithaca,  N.  Y.;  to  many 
periodicals  and  public  libraries;  to  colord  citizens  in  varius  parts  of  the  cuntry,  and  to  personal  frends.  This 
edition  differs  from  the  second  in  the  rearrangement  of  paragrafs  and  notes,  in  the  spelling  of  certain  words 
(see  belo),  and  in  the  incorporation  of  dates  and  other  statistics  obtaind  from  the  U.  S.  Pension  Euro  and 
from  the  manuscript  book  of  Records  of  the  Annual  Meetings  of  the  "Association  of  Officers  of  the  Fifty-fifth"; 
the  records  ar  signd  by  the  successiv  secretaries,  Capt.  Soule,  Col.  Fox,  and  Major  Thurber;  the  first  meeting 
was  held  in  Boston,  November  22,  1866;  the  39th,  the  last  recorded,  November  17,  1904.  My  university 
duties  never  permitted  me  to  attend  the  meetings.  Those  who  wish  copies  of  this  edition  should  inclose  self- 
directed  one-cent  envelops,  preferably  of  size  No.  13  (6J  x  31  inches) ;  corrections  and  the  present  addresses  of 
former  members  of  the  regiment  wil  be  gratefully  recievd.  To  those  concernd  in  gathering  and  preserving 
militarj'  records  is  commended  the  use  of  paper  slips  3x5  inches;  that  is  approximately  the  size  of  those  which, 
unaware  of  their  probabl  prior  employment  by  others,  I  began  to  use  in  1867,  as  stated  in  a  paper,  "On  a  method 
of  recording  and  arranging  information,"  printed  on  p.  242  of  volume  xi  of  the  Proceedings  of  the  Boston  Society 
of  Natural  History. 

In  this  edition,  excepting  in  quotations  from  other  riters,  the  spelling  conforms  mainly  to  the  rules  last 
adopted  by  the  Simplified  Spelling  Board,  of  the  Advizory  Council  of  which  I  became  a  member,  October  23, 
1907.  The  Circulars  of  the  Board  may  be  obtaind,  gratis,  from  the  secretary,  Mr.  H.  G.  Paine,  1  Madison 
Avenue,  New  York  City.  Deviations  from  the  recommendations  of  the  Board  as  a  whole  commonly  folio 
the  proposals  of  Henry  Holt,  LL.D.,  one  of  the  original  members  of  its  Executiv  Committee,  in  the  articl, 
"Economized  Commercial  Spelling,"  revized  and  r^prntM  from  The  Unpopular  Review  for  October- 
December,  1915.  ^£-»^f  |  1  fy 


From  the  Brookline  Chronicle,  May  30,  1914.  —  "Thursday  evening,  May  28,  in  accordance  with 
the  annual  custom,  and  by  courtesy  of  C.  L.  Chandler  Post  143,  G.A.R.,  the  meeting  of  the  Brookline 
Historical  Society  was  held  in  Grand  Army  Hall,  in  the  Town  Hall..  The  speaker  was  Burt  G.  Wilder, 
emeritus  professor  of  Neurology  and  Vertebrate  Zoology  in  Cornell  University,  whose  youth  was  passed 
in  Brookline  and  Newton  and  who,  before  joining  the  Fifty-fifth,  had  served  nearly  a  year  as  medical 
cadet  in  a  Washington  army  hospital  [Judiciary  Square]  partly  under  the  late  Dr.  Francis  H.  Brown  of 
Boston,  and  in  company  with  the  late  Dr.  J.  F.  A.  Adams  of  Pittsfield.  On  blackboards  were  written 
statistics.2 

"Dr.  Wilder  prefaced  his  address  with  complimentary  mention  of  three  Brookline  victims  of  the  Civil 
War  who  were  not  members  of  his  regiment,  viz.,  C.  A.  Shurtleff,  medical  cadet,  with  whom  he  collected 
insects  in  boyhood;  Lt.-Col.  C.  L.  Chandler,  another  beloved  schoolmate,  for  whom  this  Post  was 
named;  and  Brig.-Gen.  E.  A.  Wild  (previously  the  Wilder's  family  physician)  who,  after  losing  an  arm 
in  battle,  commanded  the  brigade  including  the  55th  during  the  first  three  months  of  its  service."3 

Of  the  sixty-eight  commissiond  offisers4  of  the  55th  the  two  successiv  chaplains  wer  colord;  also 
eight  who  wer  non-commissiond  offtsers  when  the  regiment  enterd  the  servis,  who  wer  commissiond  at 
different  later  dates,  and  in  some  cases  not  musterd  for  varius  rezons  never  to  their  own  discredit. 
Excepting  these  ten,  all  the  omsers^wer  white;  eleven  wer  Harvard  graduates;  nearly  all  had  seen  previus 
servis.  -.  ;  -  ;  .  ;  *  ; 

The  first  commander  of  the  55th  .was  N.  P.  Hallowell  of  Philadelphia,  late  president  of  the  National 
Bank  oi\  Commerce;,' Boston;  -his  retirement,  November  2,  1863,  causd  by  a  severe  wound  recievd  at 
"Antietam/-^va3 deeply  regretted-.  -He  died  April  11,  1914.  As  commander  he  was  succeded,  in  turn, 
by  A.  S.  Hartwell,5  Natick,  C.  B.  Fox,6  Dorchester,  and  W.  Nutt,7  Natick. 

In  the  folloing  list  of  the  other  omsers  the  rank  is  that  under  which  they  wer  musterd  out;  r.  stands 
for  resignd  and  d.  for  died.  Unles  otherwize  stated  it  may  be  inferd  that  they  wer  musterd  out  with  the 
regiment  August  29,  1865.  The  members  of  the  "Field  and  Staf"  ar  named  first. 

Major  S.  Wales,  Chelsea;  r.  November  22,  1864;  d.  September  14,  1895.  —  Major  W.  Pratt,8 
Sterling.  —  Surg.  W.  S.  Brown,  South  Reading;  r.  July  1,  1865;  d.  January  6,  1910,  in  Stoneham.  - 
Surg.  B.  G.  Wilder;  see  initial  paragraf. — Asst.-Surg.  W.  M.  Babbitt,  Braintree;  surgeon  103d  U.  S. 
Infantry,  colord,  March  7,  1865-April  30,  1866;  d.  November  25,  1914.  —  Asst.-Surg.  W.  H.  Lathrop, 
Boston;  d.  December  25, 1917.  —  Quartermaster  G.  B.  Mussey,  Edgartown;  r.  August  19.  1864;  d.  Octo 
ber  23,  1913.  —  Quartermaster  J.  O.  Mowry,  Athol;  d.  September  18,  1884.  —  Capt.  and  Adjt.  L.  B. 
Perry,  Natick,  now  Buffalo,  N.Y.  —  Lt.  and  Adjt.  W.  P.  Hallowell,  brother  of  the  first  commander; 
r.  from  il  helth  February  12,  1864;  d.  April  10,  1894.  —  Capt.  and  Adjt.  C.  W.  Mutell,  Springfield; 
d.  November  18,  1912.  —  Chaplain  W.  Jackson,  New  Bedford;  r.  January  14,  1864.  —  Chaplain  J.  R. 
Bowles,  Chillicothe,  O.;  r.  June,  1865;  d.  September  3,  1874. —  Capt.  W.  D.  Crane,9  kild  at  "Honey 

2  Taken  from  the  "Record  of  the  Service  of  the  Fifty-fifth  regiment  of  Massachusetts  Volunteer  Infantry," 
based  upon  the  letters  and  diaries  of  the  late  Col.  Charles  B.  Fox,  and  printed  for  the  Regimental  Association, 
Cambridge,  1868;  also  from  my  address,  "The  Brain  of  the  American  Negro,"  given  before  the  First  National 
Negro  Conference,  June  1,  1909,  and  printed  in  its  Proceedings,  pp.  22-66;  reprints  may  be  obtaind  from 
Mr.  Butler  R.  Wilson,  34  School  Street  Boston.  I  am  preparing  a  more  complete  history  of  the  regiment, 
based  upon  my  letters  —  approximately  daily  —  which  wer  all  preservd,  supplemented  by  later  documents, 
publisht  and  unpublisht.  I  desire  further  information  (especially  if  derived  from  letters  or  diaries)  from  or  con 
cerning  any  members  of  the  regiment,  and  respecting  the  actions,  "Honey  Hill,"  "Grimball's  Causeway,"  and 
"Rivers'  Causeway."  In  the  "Official  Records  of  the  War  of  the  Rebellion"  (referd  to  as  "War  Records"  in  this 
part)  the  first  named  and  most  considerabl  of  these  actions  is  indext  also  under  " Graham ville,  S.  C."  (now 
Ridgeland),  serial  number  92;  the  other  two  under  "James  Island,  Skirmishes,"  February  10,  1865,  serial 
number  99,  and  July  2,  1864,  serial  numbers  65  and  66,  respectivly.  Several  of  the  volumes  of  the  "War 
Records"  comprize  more  than  one  part,  separately  paged  and  indext,  and  designated  "serial  numbers,"  as 
explaind  in  the  General  Index,  serial  number  130. 

»  The  Brookline  Chronicle  for  December  8, 1918,  has  a  group  picture  including  Wild,  Chandler,  and  Cand  ler 
(rongly  speld  Chandler)  who  marrid  a  sister  of  the  second. 

*  This  enumeration  is  derived  from  Col.  Fox's  "Record"  mentiond  in  note  2.     The  seven  who  had  died 
before  the  printing  of  that  pamflet  wer  therein  placed  in  a  separate  category  (pp.  90-97) ;   in  this  part  they  ar 
enumerated  with  the  rest  according  to  the  rank  under  which  they  wer  musterd  out.    Br.  stands  for  Brevet. 
So  many  hav  died  that  now  precedes  the  addresses  of  the  few  known  by  me  to  be  living  at  the  date  of  printing 
this  third  edition.    Unles  otherwize  stated  Massachusetts  is  to  be  understood  after  the  names  of  cities  and  towns. 

»  Hartwell,  after  previus  servis  from  May,  1861,  was  commissiond  Lt.-Col.  of  the  55th  May  30, 1863,  and 
Colonel,  December  11.  At  "Honey  Hill,"  November  30,  1864,  while  leading  the  last  charge,  he  was  twice 
wounded,  his  horse  was  kild  and  fel  upon  him,  and  he  was  saved  with  difficulty;  see  note  15.  For  this  he  was 
brevetted  Brig.-General,  U.S.  Vols.  He  was  a  member  of  the  General  Court  (Mass.  Legislature)  1866-7,  became 
Chief  Justis  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  Hawaian  Islands  in  1907,  resignd  in  1911,  and  died  August  30,  1912. 

« Fox,  after  previus  servis  from  April  17,  1861,  was  commissiond  Major  in  the  55th,  June  1,  1863,  Lt.-Col., 
December  1,  and  Brevet-Colonel,  U.  S.  Vols.,  March  13,  1865.  He  was  a  member  of  the  State  Legislature, 
1865-6  and  died  March  30,  1895.  During  much  of  our  servis  with  the  55th  we  wer  congenial  tent- mates. 
So  far  as  known  to  me  we  wer  the  only  members  of  the  regiment  who  rote  home  practically  every  day  and 
whose  letters  wer  all  preservd.  Selections  from  his  letters  wer  afterward  transcribed  by  him  into  blank  books 
that  wer  deposited  with  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society;  I  was  privileged  to  read  them  in  March  and 
April,  1914. 

7  Nutt,  after  previus  servis  from  May,  1861,  was  commissiond  Captain  in  the  55th,  May  31,  1863;   Major, 
November  28,  1864;  Lt.-Col.,  June  25,  1865;  and  Brevet-Colonel,  U.  S.  Vols.,  to  date  from  March  13.    He  servd 
his  town  in  many  capacities,  was  State  Senator  in  1902,  and  died  October  30,  1909. 

8  Pratt  was  erly  detaild  for  engineer  duty  on  Morris  Island;  a  shel  exploded  near  him  causing  an  injury  to 
the  brain  that  resulted  in  his  deth,  December  30,  1866. 

•  Crane.  —  Servd  at  "Honey  Hill,"  November  30,  1864,  as  aid  and  chief-of-staf  of  Col.  Hartwell,  there  in 
command;    after  his  horse  was  wounded  he  continued  to  advance  but  was  soon  kild;    his  body  and  that  of 
Lieut.  Boynton,  his  intimate  frend,  kild  at  the  same  time,  wer  burid  on  the  field  by  order  of  Col.  Colcock,  the 
Confederate  commander. 

(4) 


Hill."  —  Br.  Major  R.  J.  Hamilton,  Springfield,  his  present  residence.  — •  Capt.  C.  E.  Grant,10  Boston, 
now  Worcester.  —  Capt.  C.  C.  Soule,11  Boston;  d.  January  7,  1913.  —  Capt.  J.  Gordon,  Chelsea,  now 
Chicago,  111.;  r.  from  il  helth,  July  20,  1864.  —  Capt.  C.  P.  Bowditch,12  Boston,  now  Jamaica  Plain.  — 
Br.  Major  F.  Goodwin13;  d.  September  26,  1895.  —  Br.  Major  J.  D.  Thurber,14  Plymouth  his  present 
residence.  — •  Br.  Major  W.  H.  Torrey,  Foxboro;  d.  April  14,  1914.  —  Capt.  G.  M.  Woodward,  Worcester; 
severely  wounded  at  "Honey  Hill";  d.  September  24,  1904.  —  Capt.  T.  F.  Ellsworth,15  Ipswich; 
d.  August  29,  1911.  —  Capt.  J.  C.  Hall,  Cincinnati,  Ohio;  severely  wounded  at  "Honey  Hill."-— Br. 
Major  G.  T.  Garrison16,  Boston;  d.  January  26, 1904.  —  Br.  Major  N.  E.  Ladd,  Groveland;  ass't.  provost- 
marshal,  1865;  d.  June  6,  1916.  —  Br.  Major  G.  F.  McKay,  Boston;  wounded  February  9,  1865;  d. 
April  4,  1899.  —  Br.  Capt.  W.  Gannett,  St.  Louis,  Mo.  —  Br.  Capt.  R.  James,17  Newport,  R.  I.;  d.  July 
4,  1910.  —  Br.  Capt.  W.  C.  Roberts,  Weston;  d.  December  18,  1904.  —  Br.  Capt.  G.  H.  Carter,  Boston; 
d.  before  1914.  —  Br.  Capt.  J.  A.  Bean,  South  Natick;  d.  September  21,  1898. 

First  Lieutenants: —  W.  P.  Boynton,  (See  note  9)  Boston;  kild  at  "Honey  Hill."  —  D.  H.  Jones, 
Jamaica  Plain,  kild,  March  3,  1864,  accidentally  during  a  supposed  attack. — E.  R.  Hill,  Salem;  kild  in 
South  Carolina,  December  11,  1864.— L.  C.  Alden,  Boston;  d.  October  5,  1863.— E.  A.  Wood,  Chelsea; 

r.  November  20,  1863;  d. .  —  E.  S.  Stimpson,  r.  June  6.  1864.  —  Harrison  Holt,  Andover;  r.  October 

14,  1863. —  E.  Fowler,  Amesbury;  r.  June  15,  1865. — T.  L.  Harman,  Cambridge;  r.  June  3,  1865; 
d.  March  1,  1918.  —  A.  Marsh,  Fitchburg;  r.  September  20,  1864;  d.  before  1914.  —  E.  H.  Jewett,  Rox- 
bury;  slightly  wounded  at  "Honey  Hill."  —  H.  N.  Sheldon,  Boston,  where  he  stil  livs;  Justice  Supreme 
Judicial  Court  of  Mass.,  1905-15.  —  P.  N.  Sprague,  E.  Weymouth;  d.  August  7,  1907.  —  S.  C.  Starbird, 
New  York  City.  —  C.  L.  Roberts,  Weston;  now  National  Military  Home,  Indiana.  —  Br.  First  Lt.  C.  F. 
Lee,  Templeton;  had  been  seriusly  wounded  in  previus  servis;  d.  October  22,  1875. 

Second  Lieutenants.  —  J.  H.  Kingston,  Lexington,  Ky.;  r.  July  1,  1863.  —  E.  P.  Gould,  Cambridge; 
later  Major  in  the  59th;  after  the  war  professor  in  the  Newton  Theological  Seminary.  —  W.  D.  Mes- 
singer,  Peterboro,  N.  Y.;  r.  December  27,  1863.  —  J.  T.  Nichols,  Royalston,  N.  Y.;  r.  June  4,  1864.  — 
A.  H.  Bradish,  Boston;  r.  June  30,  1864.  —  G.  A.  Glidden,  Natick.  —  M.  E.  Hunter,  Boston.  —  These 
colord  non-commissiond  offisers  wer  made  second  lieutenants:  see  note  18  and  remark  at  the  beginning  of 
the  list  of  offisers:  — J.  F.  Shorter,  J.  M.  Trotter,  W.  H.  Dupree,  C.  L.  Mitchell.  A.  W.  Shadd,  R.  M. 
White,  M.  F.  Becker,  and  A.  M.  Jones. 


10  Grant.  —  At  "Rivers'  Causeway"  he  acted  under  fare  as  aid  to  Gen.  Hartwell,  the  brigade  commander. 

u  Soule.  —  His  company  (K)  led  the  charge  at  "Rivers'  Causeway";  he  was  slightly  wounded  at  "Honey 
Hill,"  of  which  battl  he  has  publisht  an  account;  as  hed  of  the  Boston  Book  Company  he  promoted  the  publica 
tion  of  Capt.  Emilio's  admirabl  history  of  the  54th  (Shaw's),  "A  brave  black  regiment."  He  was  very  witty 
and  the  life  of  any  gathering  of  offisers;  at  one  of  these  he  perpetrated  the  following  epitaf  on  the  riter,  of  whom 
he  was  a  belovd  schoolmate:  — •  "  Hie  jacet  Burtus,  doctor  medicinae;  ferus  natura,  ferior  nomine." 

12 Bowditch.  —  Transferd,  June  7,  1864,  to  the  Fifth  Mass.  Cavalry,  Colord;  r.  on  account  of  ilnes,  August 
23,  1864;  has  preservd  letters  concerning  his  servis  with  the  Fifty-fifth;  distinguisht  archeologist;  Jamaica 
Plain. 

"Goodwin.  —  At  "Rivers'  Causeway"  he  was  wounded  in  both  thighs.  He  was  soon  reacht  by  me  and 
placed  upon  a  stretcher.  At  the  explosion  of  a  shel  over  us  the  bearers  dropt  the  stretcher.  He  raizd  his  hed 
and  at  that  instant  the  cros-bar  on  which  it  had  rested  was  broken  by  the  "lazy  piece"  of  the  shel.  This  narro 
escape  was  witnest  by  me  and  recorded  in  my  first  letter  respecting  the  action.  The  letter  also  states  that  the 
bearers  wer  recald  to  their  duty  by  my  unaccustomd  profane  objurgations.  Sergt.  A.  J.  Smith  acted  as  orderly 
for  Col.  Hartwell  in  that  action,  and  has  ritten  me  (February  19,  1918)  that  he  remembers  his  criticism  of  the 
bearers.  But  their  timidity  was  quite  natural.  It  was  also  my  own  first  similar  experience.  There  wer  musketry, 
shel,  and  canister  at  close  range,  and  no  shelter  whatever.  A  medical  offiser  is  not  supposed  to  be  in  the 
advance,  but  the  artillery  was  wholly  unexpected.  My  recollections  ar  stil  vivid,  and  I  am  disposed  to  maintain 
that  "Who  says  he  was  never  afraid  under  fire  is  probably  iether  a  fool  or  a  liar." 

14  Thurber.  —  He  was  slightly  wounded  at  "Rivers'  Causeway";  his  company  (F)  had  been  traind  in  artil 
lery  ;  he  and  the  non-commissiond  offisers  carried  friction-primers  and  at  least  one  of  the  two  guns  captured  in 
that  action  was  turnd  and  fired  at  the  retreating  enemy. 

i5 Ellsworth.  —  At  "Honey  Hill"  he  took  the  lead  in  saving  Col.  Hartwell  under  circumstances  of  great 
difficulty  and  danger. 

"Garrison.  —  Eldest  son  of  the  great  abolitionist.  In  the  spring  of  1864  he  servd  as  regimental  quarter 
master.  His  "War  Diary"  has  been  intrusted  to  me  by  his  son,  Mr.  Rhodes  A.  Garrison,  and  wil  prove  very 
helpful. 

"James.  —  At  "Grimball's  Causeway,"  where  Major  E.  Manigault,  the  Confederate  commander,  was 
captured,  Capt.  James  acted  as  aid  to  Gen.  Hartwell,  the  brigade  commander.  In  Henry  James'  "Notes  of  a 
Son  and  Brother"  (p.  376)  is  mentiond  a  spectacular  dash  by  James,  mounted,  into  the  Confederate  works,  for 
which  it  is  said  he  was  brevetted  Captain.  The  novelist's  statement  is  apparently  based  upon  his  memory  of  a 
letter  recievd  from  his  brother;  I  hope  to  obtain  confirmation  from  other  participants  in  the  action. 

"  Shorter,  Delaware,  Ohio;  1st  Sergt.  Co.  D.,  June  24,  1864;  2d  Lieut.,  March  24,  1864,  but  not  musterd  til 
July  1,1865;  wounded  at"Honey  Hill,"  November  30, 1864;  d.soon  after  the  regiment  was  musterd  out.— -Trotter, 
Cincinnati,  Ohio;  1st  Sergt.  Co.  K.June  11,  1863;  Sergt.-Major,  November  19,  1863;  2d  Lieut. .April  10,  1SG4, 
but  not  musterd  til  July  1, 1865;  slightly  wounded  at  "Honey  Hill";  Recorder  of  Deeds,  D.C.,  author  of  book  on 
colord  musicians,  father  of  editor  of  The  Guardian;  d.  February  26,  1892. — Dupree,  Chillicothe,  Ohio;  1st  Sergt. 
Co.  H.June  25, 1863;  2d  Lieut.,  May  30,  1864,  but  musterd  July  1, 1865;  long  the  esteemd  superintendent  of  Post 
Offis  Station  A  in  Boston,  where  he  stil  resides. —  Mitchell,  Boston;  Sergent,  June  20,  1864;  2d  Lieut.,  September 
20,  1865;  not  musterd  because  of  los  of  foot  at  "Honey  Hill."  November  30,  1864;  discharged,  October  20,  1865; 
member  of  General  Court,  1866-7;  d.  April  13,  1912.  The  four  folloing  wer  commissiond  2d  Lieutenants,  but 
not  musterd  in  on  account  of  the  muster  out  of  the  regiment.  —  Shadd,  Chatham,  C.  W.;  at  varius  times 
Sergent,  Quartermaster-sergent,  and  Serg.-major;  practist  law  in  Mississippi;  d.  November  15,  1878. — 
While,  Ohio;  sergent  and  commissary-sergent ;  d.  March  3,  1905. — Becker;  at  different  times  Commissary 
sergent  and  Quartermaster-sergent;  was  member  of  the  Constitutional  Convention  of  South  Carolina.  — 
Jones;  at  varius  times  Sergent,  1st  Sergent,  and  Color  sergent;  d.  October  29,  1875. 

(5) 


At  different  times  there  cared  for  me  and  my  horse 19  two  enlisted  men  for  whom  I  had  the  highest 
respect  as  men  and  as  soldiers;  both  wer  irreproachabl ;  niether  would  taste  liquor;  —  David  Lee  of 
Co.  C.  now  livs  in  Xenia,  Ohio,20  Andrew  J.  Smith  of  Co.  B,  in  Grand  Rivers,  Ky.21 

Like  the  54th,  the  55th  was  recruited  mainly  at  the  North;  out  of  980  only  182  wer  born  in  the 
slave  states.  Both  regiments  went  into  the  field  under  the  thret  of  the  Confederate  Congress  to  kil  or 
enslave  Negro  soldiers,  if  captured,  and  to  kil  their  offisers.  Both  regiments  enlisted  with  the  assurance 
that  in  all  respects  they  wer  to  be  treated  as  wer  the  white  troops.  When,  later,  thru  administrativ 
misunderstanding  or  pusillanimity,  the  enlisted  men  were  offerd  the  pay  of  laborers,  they  refused  to 
accept  it  and  servdfor  more  than  a  year  without  a  dollar;  meantime  many  had  died  of  disease,  or  had  been 
kild  in  battl,  and  the  families  of  some  wer  in  want. 

At  "Honey  Hill"  after  several  other  regiments  had  been  repulst,  a  battalion  of  the  55th  charged  the 
Confederate  works,  losing,  kild  and  wounded,  about  half  the  offisers  and  one-third  the  enlisted  men 
engaged.  At  "Rivers'  Causeway",22  after  the  repulse  of  two  other  regiments  by  unexpected  artillery, 
the  55th  enlisted  men,  without  orders,  charged  and  captured  the  guns  and  fired  them  upon  the  retreating 
enemy.  Out  of  about  350  present  of  the  55th,  10  were  kild  and  16  wounded.23 


19  Thayer.  —  Another  body-servant  was  F.  E.  Thayer,  a  white  boy  of  ten,  who,  with  his  mother's  consent, 
accompanid  me  and  proved  very  devoted  and  efficient;   he  became  a  merchant  in  Springfield,  where  he  died 
July  6,  1911. 

20  Lee  has  servd  for  thirty-three  years  as  a  scool  janitor,  trusted  and  highly  respected  by  the  Board  of 
Education. 

21  A.  J,  Smith.  —  Besides  other  soldierly  deeds,  at  "Honey  Hill,"  when  the  color-sergent  was  blown  to 
pieces  by  a  shel,  Smith  siezd  and  saved  the  colors,  and  later  was  made  his  successor.     This  is  mentiond  by  Col. 
Fox  in  the  "Record"  referd  to  in  note  2,  and  I  hav  cald  attention  to  it  in  a  letter  (accompanied  by  a  picture 
of  Smith)  in  The  National  Tribune  for  December  10,  1914;  had  it  been  offisially  reported  at  the  time,  Smith  prob 
ably  would  now  hold  a  "Medal  of  Honor  for  Distinguisht  Gallantry  in  Action"  under  the  Act  of  Congress  of 
April  27,  1916. 

22  "Rivers'  Causeway."  —  Altho  the  numbers  engaged  on  both  sides  were  comparativly  small,  this  attack 
was  regarded  by  the  Confederate  military  authorities  as  seriusly  imperiling  the  safety  of  Charleston;  see  J.  John 
son's  "The  Defence  of  Charleston  Harbor,"  p.  215;   C.  C.  Jones'  "Historical  Sketch  of  the  Chatham  Artillery," 
pp.  197-200;  and  "War  Records,"  serial  numbers  65  (pp.  14-15,  121-6)  and  66  (pp.  546  et  seq.).    It  was  notabl 
for  the  courage  and  initiativ  of  the  enlisted  men  of  the  55th  in  the  face  of  unexpected,  short-range  artillery  fire, 
and  under  a  confusion  or  misapprehension  of  orders  —  which,  indeed,  may  hav  been  disregarded.     It  was  also 
notabl  for  the  heroism  of  the  outnumbered  Confederates.      Valuabl  information  has  been  obtaind  from  their 
commander,  the  late  Lieut.  T.  M.  DeLorme,  and  from  one  of  the  gunners,  William  Mather,  now  Dauberville, 
Pa.;  but  there  remain  to  be  elucidated  several  points  as  to  the  infantry  support  and  exact  location  of  the  guns. 
An  oral  account  of  this  action  was  presented  by  me  before  the  Military  Historical  Society  of   Massachusetts, 
December  2,  1913,  but  the  manuscript  was  not  completed  for  publication  in  the  recently  issued  volume  (14)  of  its 
"Papers." 

**The  Negro  as  a  Soldier. —  In  Nicolay  and  Hay's  "Abraham  Lincoln,  a  history"  (vol.  6,  pp.  465-6)  ar 
letters  from  which  the  follqing  ar  extracts:  —  From  President  Lincoln  to  General  Grant,  August  9,  1863: 
"I  believe  it  is  a  resource  which,  if  vigorously  applied  now,  will  soon  close  the  contest."  From  Grant  to  Lincoln, 
August  23:  "I  have  given  the  subject  of  arming  the  negro  my  hearty  support.  .  .  .  They  will  make  good 
soldiers." 

"Sambo's  right  to  be  kilt"  was  pungently  versified  by  an  Irish  offiser,  Charles  G.  Halpine  ("Private  Miles 
O'Reilly")  as  recorded  in  the  "Photographic  History  of  the  War,"  vol.  9,  pp.  176-7.  How  the  opportunity 
was  embraced  is  eloquently  told  by  Col.  N.  P.  Hallowell: — "The  Negro  as  a  soldier  in  the  war  of  the  Rebellion," 
red  before  the  Military  Historical  Society  of  Massachusetts,  January  5, 1892,  pp.  29,  separately  printed,  Boston, 
1897,  publisht,  1913,  in  Vol.  XIII  of  "Papers  of  the  M.  H.  S.M.,"  pp.  289-3 13:  —  "We  called  upon  them  in  the 
day  of  our  trial,  when  volunteering  had  ceased,  when  the  draft  was  a  partial  failure,  and  the  bounty  system  a 
senseless  extravagance.  They  were  ineligible  for  promotion,  they  were  not  to  be  treated  as  prisoners  of  war. 
Nothing  was  definite  except  that  they  could  be  shot  and  hanged  as  soldiers.  Fortunate  indeed  is  it  for  us,  as 
well  as  for  them,  that  they  were  equal  to  the  crisis;  that  the  grand  historic  moment  which  comes  to  a  race  only 
once  in  many  centuries  came  to  them,  and  that  they  recognized  it;  and  when  the  war  closed  the  names  of  one 
hundred  and  eighty-six  thousand  men  of  African  descent  were  on  the  rolls."  For  an  admirable  account  of  the 
raising  of  the  Massachusetts  colord  regiments  and  of  the  difficulties  respecting  their  pay  and  their  military 
status  see  chapter  X,  "The  Negro  Soldier,"  of  H.  G.  Pearson's  "The  Life  of  John  A.  Andrew,"  Boston,  1904. 

One  of  the  erliest,  best  informd,  and  most  emfatic  of  the  witnesses  to  the  soldierly  qualities  of  the  Negro 
was  the  late  Thomas  Wentworth  Higginson,  the  organizer  and  first  commander  of  the  First  South  Carolina, 
afterward  the  33d  U.  S.  Colord  Troops.  His  testimony  is  vividly  related  in  the  volume,  "Army  Life  in  a 
Black  Regiment,"  especially  in  the  chapter,  "The  Negro  as  a  Soldier."  As  the  result  of  a  serius  injury  recievd 
in  the  expedition  "Up  the  Edisto,"  July,  1863,  Colonel  Higginson  was  compeld  to  go  north  in  May,  1864,  and 
to  resign  in  the  following  October.  Therefore  he  was  not  present  at  "Rivers'  Causeway,"  in  which  his  regiment 
participated.  A  partial  account  of  the  action  was  publisht  as  a  letter  in  the  New  York  Evening  Post  of  July  26, 
1864,  and  reproduced  in  Appendix  D  in  the  first  edition  (1882)  of  the  volume  named  above;  the  references  to  the 
action  on  pages  249,  252,  and  356  of  the  second  edition  (1900),  wil  be  considered  in  the  paper  referd  to  at  the 
end  of  note  22. 

Whether,  without  the  "stone  that  the  builders  rejected"  at  first,  the  Union  edifis  could  hav  been  restored 
at  all,  it  is  now  useless  to  discuss;  certainly  the  contest  would  hav  been  greatly  prolongd  without  the  colord 
soldiers.  To  their  fidelity,  industry,  valor,  and  occasional  initiativ,  abundant  testimony  is  supplied  by  the 
"War  Records"  (serial  number  46,  pp.  328-30,  362,  and  elsewhere),  and  by  papers  (e.g.,  "The  Colored  Troops," 
Gen.  Selden  Connor,  in  "War  Papers,"  Maine  Commandery  of  the  Loyal  Legion,  vol  3,  pp.  61-82),  "The  Negro 
as  a  Soldier,"  by  Brig.  Gen.  A.  S.  Burt,  U.S. A. .retired,  "The  Crisis,"  February  11, 1913.  Nevertheless,  in  the 
"Photographic  History  of  the  Civil  War"  their  servises  are  scantily  set  forth;  in  that  magnificent  travesty 
of  history,  the  foto-play,  "The  Birth  of  a  Nation,"  and  in  Dixon's  interesting  novel,  "The  Southerner"  (pp.  331, 
332,  355,  383,  435-8)  they  are  grossly  misrepresented.  A  juster  estimate  of  their  military  valu  was  offerd  by 
the  Confederate  general,  Cleburne,  in  January,  1864  ("War  Records,"  serial  number  110,  p.  591).  From 
intimate  association  during  two  years  and  three  months,  from  the  sources  of  information  above  referd  to,  from 
reports  of  the  Spanish  War  (e.g.,  Col.  R.  L.  Bullard's  article,  "The  Negro  Volunteer,"  Jour.  Military  Service 
Institution,  July,  1901,  pp.  29-39),  from  accounts  of  the  recent  trubls  in  Mexico,  and  from  current  reports, 
I  conclude  that  the  average  negro  is  a  natural  soldier,  and  that,  in  the  recent  "World  War,"  the  failure  to 
enlist  his  activ  and  cordial  co-operation  would  hav  been  a  great  and  inexcusabl  error. 

(6) 


The  Confederate  soldiers,  on  the  average,  wer  as  brave  as  our  own,  and  as  fully  convinst  of  the 
justis  of  their  cause;  their  higher  offisers  wer  often  better  traind.  With  equal  numbers,  with  resources 
undiminisht  by  our  blockade,  and  with  the  arming  of  loyal  Negroes  (advocated  by  General  Cleburne 
and  others)  the  Confederates  would  probably  hav  won. 

Excepting  the  original  occupation  of  Port  Royal,  the  reduction  of  Fort  Pulaski,  the  siezure  of  the 
south  end  of  Morris  Island  in  July,  1863,  and  the  advances  upon  Fort  Wagner  by  "parallels"  after  the 
fearful  slauter  of  July  18,  the  military  record  of  the  Department  of  the  South  presents  an  almost  unbroken 
series  of  avoidabl  disasters,  accompanid  by  useless  expenditure  of  ammunition,  as  upon  Fort  Sumter, 
and  barbarus  disregard  of  non-combatants  and  property,  as  in  the  bombardment  of  Charleston.24  I  am 
proud  of  the  achievments  of  our  regiment  and  most  of  the  others,  but  I  am  far  from  proud  of  what  was 
done  by  the  Department  of  the  South  as  a  whole  under  the  direction  of  the  "men  higher  up,"  most  of 
whom  ar  now  ded. 

Wars  ar  simply  duels  between  nations.  Commonly  they  hav  no  better  occasion  than  duels  between 
individuals,  and  might  be  averted  by  the  exercize  of  common  sense,  self-restraint,  and  the  intermediation 
of  disinterested  parties.  Might  not  the  maintenance  of  the  Union  and  the  abolition  of  slavery  hav  been 
accomplisht  without  the  Civil  War,  horribl  and  costly  in  itself  and  bitter  in  its  consequences? 

Why  then,  did  we,  the  peaceabl,  religius  youths  of  the  early  sixties,  enter  the  army  as  a  matter  of 
course?  Partly  because  the  Gospel  of  Peace  had  not  been  preacht.  Largely  because  we  wer  religius. 
Because  at  church  and  in  our  homes  we  had  listend  to  the  Old  Testament  narrativs  of  wars  as  if  inseparabl 
from  human  history.  Even  when  explaind  (as  by  Swedenborg)  upon  the  basis  of  an  "internal  sense," 
those  warlike  passages  are  not  wholesome  reading  for  the  yung.  I  hope  to  liv  to  see  the  Bible  expurgated 
of  such  and  other  unedifying  matter. 

The  "War  Records"  contain  frequent  ascriptions  of  victories  to  an  "overruling  Providence."  The 
Confederate  commanders  wer  more  confident  than  ours.  Nevertheless  the  final  outcome  was  adverse.25 
Wer  there  two  "Gods  of  War,"  and  did  one  retire?  No.  War  is  an  invention  of  the  Devil,26  and  he  may 
encourage,  restrain,  or  deciev.  Unless  we  are  prepared  to  concede  that  the  Deity  sanctiond  the  murder 
of  Abraham  Lincoln  —  the  greatest  calamity  that  ever  befel  this  nation,  especially  the  southern  portion 
of  it  —  we  hav  no  right  to  assume  that  over  human  battls  He  exercizes  any  more  control  than  over  a 
dog-fight. 

A  striking  example  of  feminin  superiority  and  domination  was  found  by  me  during  my  servis,  in  the 
shape  of  a  spider,  Nephila,  afterward  described  in  sientific  periodicals  and  (with  illustrations)  in  the 
Atlantic  for  August,  1866.  The  female  not  only  makes  the  net  and  catches  the  prey  but  weighs  at  least 


24  The  Bombardment  of  Charleston.  —  That  and  all  other  offisially  authorized  misdeeds  on  both  sides  during  the 
Civil  War  pale  beside  the  atrocities  orderd  or  connived  at  by  the  Imperial  German  Government  during  the  last 
four  years.     There  would  be  les  surprize  at  the  apparently  recent  outbreaks  of  Teutonic  atavistic  military  mania 
(as  exemplified  in  the  section  on  "War- Worship"  on  pp.  133-59  of  the  "Gems  of  German  Thought, "compiled  by 
William  Archer,  1917)  wer  there  more  geheral  acquaintance  with  the  "Physiophilosophy"  of  Prof.  Lorenz  Oken 
of  Munich  (translated  by  Tulk,  London,  1847,  first  red  by  me  in  1867) :   "The  art  of  War  is  the  highest,  most 
exalted  art;  the  art  of  freedom  and  of  right,  of  the  blessed  condition  of  Man  and  of  humanity  —  the  Principle  of 
Peace."    "Die  Kriegskunst  ist  die  hochste,  erhabenste  Kunst;  die  Kunst  der  Freiheit  und  des  Rechts,  des  seeligen 
Zustandes  des  Menschen  und  der  Menschheit  —  das  Prinzip  des  Friedens."    This  is  an  amplification  of  one  of  the 
concluding  sentences  of  the  original  edition  of  1910:  "Der  Held  ist  derGolt  der  Menschheit." 

25  Does  Prayer  Influence  the  Deity.  —  As  remarkt  by  me  at  a  meeting  of  the  Brookline  Historical  Society, 
April  14,  1915  (reported  in  The  Chronicle  of  the  17th),  "The  Confederate  commanders  made  much  more  fre 
quent  and  confident  declarations  of  their  partnership  with  the  Deity  than  did  the  Union  generals;  a  fact  worth 
reflecting  upon  by  the  Kaiser  and  his  apologists.     Commending  ex-President  Eliot's  reply  to  a  clergyman's 
query,  'When  may  we  begin  to  pray  for  peace?'  —  'When  Germany  is  at  least  driven  back  into  her  own  terri 
tory,  and  when  she  has  been  forced  to  pay  full  indemnity  to  Belgium.'  —  (Boston  Herald,  April  13,1915), 
Dr.  Wilder  insisted  that  —  whatever  influence  (by  formulating  and  crystalizing  convictions  into  effectiv  mani 
festations),  they  may  exert  directly  upon  the  supplicants,  or  indirectly  upon  other  human  beings — there  is  no 
sientific   evidence   that  supplications  have  ever  affected  the  purposes  of  the  Deity  or  changed  the  order  of 
Nature."     In  the  better  and  wiser  times  to  come,  the  collation  of  antagonistic  appeals  to  an  assumed  single 
Deity  during  the  Civil  War  and  during  the  last  four  years  may  serv  to  indicate  how  slight  has  been  our  progress 
from  belief  in  "Tribal  Gods"  and  in  the  direct  interference  of  an  Almighty.    Indeed,  to  specify  undesirabl  con 
ditions  is  to  ascribe  ignorance  to  Omniscience ;   to  implore  relief  from  them  is  to  imply  a  lack  of  benevolent 
interest  in  our  affairs.    The  assumption  by  Wilhelm  von  Hohenzollern  of  acquaintance  with  the  political  and 
military  plans  of  the  Almighty  is  paralleld  only  by  the  Rev.  William  A.  Sunday's  declaration  of  familiarity  with 
thy  Divine  scheme  of  salvation. 

28  War  is  an  Invention  of  the  Devil.  —  As  stated  by  me  in  a  letter  publisht  in  the  New  York  Tribune  (Novem 
ber  4,  1914)  this  fraze  is  substantially  identic  with  that  used  by  Col.  C.  B.  Fox  in  a  letter  to  his  wife  (dated 
"Folly  Island,  S.  C.,  January  26,  1864")  transcribed  in  a  manuscript  volume  referd  to  in  note  6.  It  naturally 
suggests  that  which  is  popularly  attributed  to  Gen.  W.  T.  Sherman  and  this  is  a  fitting  occasion  for  dispelling  the 
confusion  between  it  and  another  epigram  les  widely  known,  viz.,  "War  is  cruelty."  This  occurs  in  Sherman's 
letter  of  September  12,  1864,  adrest  to  the  Mayor  of  Atlanta,  Ga.,  justifying  the  expulsion  of  the  inhabitants  of 
that  city.  It  is  printed  in  the  "War  Records,"  vol.  39,  serial  number  78,  pp.  418-19,  and  is  reproduced  in  Bow 
man  and  Irwin's  "Sherman  and  his  Campaigns"  (p. 225)  and  in  the  "Memoirs  of  Gen.  W.  T.  Sherman,"  vol.  2, 
pp.  125-7. 

The  other  fraze,  "War  is  Hell,"  is  the  one  commonly  quoted.  Nevertheless,  as  related  in  the  footnote  to 
p.  309  of  "Sherman's  Home  Letters"  (edited  by  M.  A.  DeWolfe  Howe,  New  York,  1909)  Sherman  himself 
could  not  recall  the  occasion  of  its  utterance,  and  its  authenticity  was  not  regarded  as  sufficiently  establisht  to 
warrant  placing  Henry  Van  Dyke's  quatrain  containing  it  on  St.  Gauden's  equestrian  statue.  In  The  National 
Tribune  of  November  26,  1914,  Mr.  Charles  O.  Brown,  the  popular  lecturer,  declared  that,  at  the  graduating 
exercizes  of  Orchard  Lake  Military  Academy,  near  Pontiac,  Mich.,  June  19,  1879,  Sherman  closed  his  address 
with  these  words,  which  he  says  ar  rememberd  as  distinctly  as  it  if  wer  yesterday:  "I  have  seen  fields  devas 
tated,  homes  ruined,  and  cities  laid  waste;  I  have  seen  the  carnage  of  battle,  the  blood  of  the  wounded,  and  the 
cold  faces  of  the  dead  looking  up  at  the  stars.  That  is  war.  War  is  Hell." 

(7) 


100  times  her  mate;   that  is  as  if  the  average  man  of  140  pounds  should  attach  himself  to  a  wor 
seven  tons.    Under  such  conditions  Equal  Suffrage  would  soon  cease  to  be  an  academic  question.27 

During  my  servis  with  the  regiment  I  was  never  sick  a  day.28  I  ascribe  my  immunity  largely  tc 
horseback  whenever  possibl  and  to  absolute  avoidance  of  pork  and  whisky.      Our  regiment  incluc 


unusually  large  proportion  of  offisers  who  wer  iether  total  abstainers  or  very  temperate.     If  liqu 
hav  been  interdicted  in  our  army,  excepting  as  prescribed  by  the  surgeons,  I  believ  the 
been  shortend  by  a  year,  with  concomitant  saving  of  life,  helth,  property,  and  money.29 


27  As  the  eradication  of  Slavery  was  a  secondary  object  and  result  of  the  War  for  the  Preservatio 
American  Union,  so  the  recent  World  War  Against  Military  Autocracy  may,  as  a  "by-product/1  hav 
strated  the  fitness  of  Woman  for  unwonted  fisical,  intellectual,  and  political  activities. 

M  Niether  during  nor  since  the  Civil  War,  hav  I  sufferd  from  indigestion.    That  freedom  is  ascribed 
crimination  and  moderation  respecting  food  and  to  thoro  mastication.     This  habit  was  formd  from  the 
and  precept  of  my  vegetarian  parents  and  was  urged  upon  my  pupils  at  Cornell  from  its  opening  in  1868 
as  Higiene  was  included  in  my  department.    The  dictum,  "Eat  slowly;    masticate  well;   five  minutes  d 
dinner  may  giv  you  better  use  of  an  hour  afterward,"  was  formulated  in  an  articl,  "Concerning  Fo 
the  Cornell  Era  for  Nov.  24,  1871   (antedating  by  a  quarter  of  a  century  the  similar  doctrin  of  t 
Horace  Fletcher),  and  occurs  in  all  the  editions  of  my  "Health  Notes  for  Students"  (now  out  of 

«  Smoking  and  Drinking  by  Soldiers.  —  Policing   is  part  of  an  articl,  "Should  Our  Yung 
Encouraged  to  Smoke?",  ritten  by  me  at  the  request  of  Dr.  J.  H.  Kellogg,  Superintendent  of  the  Battl 
(Michigan)  Sanitarium  and  publisht  by  him  as  editor  in  Good  Health  for  February,  1918;   a  reprint  may 
pany  this,  or  will  be  sent,  gratis,  on  reciet  of  a  stampt  and  directed  one-cent  envelop:  —  "In  support  of  r 
tions  that  tobacco  smoking  is  artificial,  needless,  unwholesome,  costly,  a  fire-menace,  wasteful  of  space  in  Ht 
an  obtunder  of  the  ethic  sense,  unjust,  and  inconsistent  with  exhortations  to  'Imitatio  Christi,'  statemen 
arguments  hav  been  offerd  by  me  on  varius  occasions  since  the  fall  of  1868  when  first  I  began  to  advj 
students  at  Cornell  University  as  to  helth  and  conduct."    During  the  Civil  War,  so  far  as  I  can  recall,  nc 
than  ten  percent  of  our  offisers  and  enlisted  men  wer  habitual  smokers.     Now,  as  among  male  civili 
proportion  seems  to  be  reverst.    Notwithstanding  the  relativly  liberal  pay  of  our  army,  tobacco  is  now  p 
as  part  of  the  "ration."    Cigars,  cigarets,  tobacco,  and  pipes  are  commonly  included  among  the  supp 
to  our  soldiers  abroad  by  their  relativs  and  trends.    There  is  a  general  impression  that  smoking  is  a 
solace  for  those  accustomed  to  it.     Is  not  this  a  perilus  delusion?    Military  efficiency  depends  larg 
conditions  of  the  nervus  and  muscular  organs  such  as  are  demanded  for  success  in  certain  games 
training  for  which  tobacco  is  forbidden.    The  International  Committee  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian 
tions  has  recently  publisht  (Association  Press,  124  E.  28th  Street,  New  York)  a  volume  of  188  pages 
"The  Physical  Effects  of  Smoking."    The  authors,  Dr.  George  J.  Fisher  and  Prof.  Elmer  Berry,  co 
numerus  careful  and  impartial  experiments  to  show  the  effects  of  smoking  upon  heart  rate  and  blood 
neuro-muscular  precision,  accuracy  in  baseball  pitching,  etc.    They  conclude  (p.  177)  that  clear  ey 
nerves,  and  muscles  capable  of  accurate  response  do  not  go  with  smoking.    In  an  introductory  note  Prof 
Fisher  says:  "The  following  essay  would  seem  to  indicate  that  smoking  is  more  injurious  than  we  have  s 
It  will  give  pause  to  those  who  smoke  or  contemplate  smoking,  if  they  value  their  physical  and  mental  a 
This  aspect  of  the  subject  is  wel  stated  in  a  pamflet,  "Tobacco  and  the  Soldier,"  by  Prof.  H.  W.  F 
Yale  University,  who  had  alredy  delt  with  the  economic  side  in  "The  Food  Supply  and  the  Hun 
marine." 

Literature  on  the  several  aspects  of  the  tobacco  question  may  be  obtaind  from  Dr.  Charles  G 
president  ot  the  Non-Smokers'  Protective  League  of  America^  101  \Jfai72<itSU,  New  York  City, 
views  ar  recorded  in  (among  others)  the  following:  "Health  Notefe  for  Stucfettts,"  successiv  editions; 
and  Morality,"  leaflet  distributed  at  special  lectures  on  Intemperance  and  Social  Diseases;  Final 
(1903)  of  the  Committee  (of  which  I  was  one)  on  "Alcohol  and  Narcotics"  of  the  N.  Y.  State 
Teachers  Association;  "The  Cigarette  Smoker,"  N.  Y.  Tribune,  Mar.  24,  1911;  "Views  as  to  Stud 
duct,"  N.  Y.  Tribune  and  Ithaca  (N.  Y.)  Journal,  June  15,  1911;  "When  Authors  Are  Empty,"  Bos 
June  18,  1915;  "Smoking  on  the  Campus,"  red  at  the  First  Non-Smokers' Protective  League  of  Ame 
vention,  in  San  Francisco,  Cal.,  July  17,  1915  (unpublisht) ;  "Would  Christ  Smoke?"  Brooklyn  Eagl 
21,  1916.  In  letters  publisht  in  The  Tribune  of  Nov.  19,  1910,  and  March  24,  1911,  and  in  the  Ithaca 
of  March  25,  1911,  "smogs"  was  employd  as  a  concise  and  expressiv  term  for  those  who  smoke  ii 
where  non-smokers  have  equal  rights. 

As  may  be  inferd  from  the  foregoing  paragrafs  I  regard  as  more  or  les  objectionabl  any  use  of  tc 
excepting  as  an  insecticide  —  by  any  person  at  any  age  and  under  any  conditions.      Respecting 
beverages  my  views  cannot  be  stated  without  qualifications;  they  might  not  be  worth  stating  at  all 
in  the  light  of  all  accessibl  information,  they  hav  been  maintaind  thru  a  long  life  during  part  of  wl 
wer  annually  revized  under  the  consciusnes  of  responsibility  for  the  welfare  of  precius  youths. 

The  paragraf to  which  this  note  refers  was  spoken  prior  to  the  recent  "World  War"  and  printe 
our  participation  in  it.      To  avoid  misinterpretation  I  quote  from  my  letter,  "Opposes  Prohibition, 
was  publisht  (in  wwsimplified  spelling)  in  the  Boston  Herald  of  December  18,  1916:  —  "Shoud  thisj 
be  agen  involvd  in  war  there  might  be  demanded  such  restriction,  not  only  military  and  naval  but 
Now,  however,  while  deploring  the  evils  of  intemperance,  I  see  no  rezon  for  changing  the  opinions  fc 
1868  and  publicly  exprest  on  several  occasions  since,  viz:  Relief  from  the  evils  of  intemperance  is  to  1 
by  the  slo  process  of  education;   fermented  drinks  (cider,  beer,  and  light  wines)  shoud  not  be  ch 
distild  liquors  and  fortified  wines;  we  shoud  discriminate  between  the  use  and  the  abuse;  life  shou< 
garded  as  constituted  by  not  efficiency  alone  but  by  happines  as  wel ;  moderation  and  self-control  i " 
inculcated  as  cardinal  virtues;  'treating'  shoud  be  discountenanst  and  dram-shops  abolisht;    and  the 
be  rigidly  enforst  abstention  from  all  grades  of  alcoholic  beverages  by  youths,  especially  college  underg 

The  most  efficient  agents  of  the  devil  ar  the  keepers  and  owners  of  gambling-houses,  brothels, 
saloons.  Directly  or  indirectly  all  ar  foes  of  helth,  honor,  purity,  home-life,  and  happiness.  The 
keepers  ar  entitld  to  "bad  eminence"  from  their  numbers,  their  unblushing  activity,  and  the  tend< 
their  customers  to  patronize  the  other  two. 

The  solution  of  the  drink-problem  is  hinderd  by  social,  political,  moral,  and  theologic  entan 
and  by  the  exaggerated  statements  of  wel-mening  but  il-informd  advocates.      As  was  wel  sed  by 
Mrs.  Thomas  Carlyle,  "It  is  the  mixing-up  of  things  which  is  the  great  bad." 

In  addition  to  what  is  sed  in  the  Report  on  "Alcohol  and  Narcotics"  refered  to  in  a  pxevius  PC 
suggest  that  youths  be  safegarded  thru  the  susceptibl  and  habit-forming  period  by  pecuniary 
inducements  to  abstain.  The  free  use  of  milk  as  a  cheep  and  nurishing  food  for  yung  and  old 
advocated  by  me  ever  since  I  began  to  teach.  I  now  urge  that,  to  avert  the  desire  for  alcoholi 
availabl  for  domestics  whose  work  precedes  the  first  meal;  also  that,  in  conveniently  preservd  foi 
provided  for  the  Army  and  Navy. 


Chestnut  Hill,  Mass. 

(8) 


Photomount 
Pamphlet 

Binder 
Gay  lord  Bros. 

Makers 
Stockton,  Calif. 

PAT.  IAN.  21.  1908 


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